North Ridgeville police chief details new station proposal

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — A new police station south of Fire Station No. 1 off Ranger Way would give the department the modern space it needs to serve a growing city, North Ridgeville police Chief Mike Freeman told members of City Council in a presentation Monday. North Ridgeville voters will see a levy on the November ballot that would fund the $12.5 million new station if passed. The current police station has one section that is 40 years old and another that is 27 years old, Freeman said. When that more recent addition was constructed, he said the city's population was 20,000 people. North Ridgeville's population has grown to about 37,000, and continues rising. Freeman said the city's expansion has caused the department to grow as well, and it has outgrown its current station beside City Hall. "This building was used all year long, 24/7. This building has been used hard, and we're out of space," he said. "I've taken down walls, added walls. There's not much more I can do to make this space adequate for what we need." Freeman showed members of Council several renderings of how the proposed new building could look, as well as a site plan depicting where it would be located. The site plan showed a police storage building south of the existing fire station, with the parking lot and police station building south of that. The station was shown to be accessible from the fire station and two drives that would branch off Ranger Way. The current station building is about 6,900 square feet, while the proposed new building would be more than 13,200 total square feet, according to a chart distributed at the meeting. The department's new garage would be 7,800 square feet, more than 6,700 feet larger than its current garage. Freeman said he likes the proposed location of the new station in part because the city already owns the property, but also because of its nearness to the North Ridgeville Academic Center and High School. He said that if a fire or emergency were to occur at the schools during work hours, there are always several officers — the chief, the captain and five detectives — who could respond promptly. "You can have seven guys on the ground in less than 30 seconds, and that's big," Freeman said. Council President Martin DeVries, R-at-large, also was supportive of the proposed station's location near the schools. "When you are a parent, every day you send your kids off to school you wonder what is going to happen sometimes," he said. Having the potential new station resemble the existing Fire Station No. 1 in appearance was important for Councilman Bruce Abens, R-3rd Ward, but he said the most important thing is for police to have an adequate station. "Your department needs new facilities, period," Abens said. If the levy passes, the current police facility would be repurposed to provide a better workspace for other city departments. Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.